I have often talked about what a wonderful place I live. Generally that has been in the context of comparing the laid back life style compared to the stress of driving through Denver, Colorado for instance. It certainly seems a fair assumption that the stress level and the chance of having an anxiety disorder should be less 2 hours away from the big cities.
I have written close to 1200 blog posts on life insurance and how almost every malady known to mankind can affect it. Today is my chance to take a break from beating up on AARP and talking about how to get life insurance if you’re bipolar. Today I want to sell my house.
No, I’m not going anywhere. My wife and I will move about 2 miles. We will miss our beautiful home of the past 13 years, but we have an opportunity that we really shouldn’t pass up.
But that leaves a great opportunity for someone to pick up where we left off. The property is unique with a 3 BR, 2 BA home, an 1100 sq ft office, a barn built in the 1800’s and a pasture with lots of trees and the Little Arkansas river running through it. It’s in town but with 8.2 acres has amazing privacy and quiet. Close to everything without having to look at anything but mountains and trees.
Bottom line. Call my realtor, Jeff Post, at 719-539-6682 if you want to know more, or call me. I love to talk about it.
October 20th, 2009
We got a preferred rate approval on a client today. This is a client who had come to me after feeling, well, jerked around and lied to by Selectquote.
The Selectquote agent who worked with this client was all about banging out an approval and moving on to the next client. Even if you overlook the original bait and switch where he quoted Banner preferred plus rates, got the client to do an exam and then broke the news that it looked like it would more likely be standard plus rates. Even if you overlook the fact that the agent lied and told him that the standard plus rate was really as good as it was going to turn out anyway.
Even if you overlook the fact that the agent admitted that Prudential could do better after being confronted with a quote through our office and then ran an application through them, on September 1 the agent sent the client an email that just really can’t be overlooked.
“Prudential gave you a Preferred rate but Banner and Genworth will not. JLT”. The same agent inferred that it was unethical to run a third application for this client, “Ethically I cannot submit yet a third application on your behalf and promise you better pricing. Based on the underwriting thus far (cholesterol medication and the use of Paxil) through the first two applications and my experience with Genworth that carrier will not deliver a Preferred rate.”
Ethically this agent ought to know the companies he represents and their underwriters well enough to know that Genworth was the company to go with in the beginning. He ought to be familiar enough with Genworth underwriting to know that cholesterol medication has no impact at all on the rate (preferred best is OK with cholesterol medication) and that treatment for situational depression with Paxil is preferred at worst with Genworth.
Genworth did approve preferred. JLT with Selectquote was wrong on this case from beginning to the end where his client sought an agent that would shoot straight with him.
Bottom line. Something I’ve contended for a long time is that an agency like Selectquote who hangs their hat and their future on volume sales can’t really humble themselves to service before, during or after the sale. Having worked for a few years at a Selectquote clone I can tell you that it is all about fast selling and hopefully placing whatever the outcome is. When you tell a client that it is unethical to try a third application, what JLT was really saying is that their business model doesn’t support doing whatever it takes to do right by the client.
I left that clone agency because they refused to service clients. I’ll never place anywhere close to 100,000 policies a year and that’s OK.
October 20th, 2009
