Three Questions That Lead You To The DI Sale
Selling Disability Insurance (DI) is a delicate process. You know your clients need the protection, but the ‘hard sell’ angle can be too aggressive. Today, we are working in an environment where a subtle approach has proven much more effective when opening the conversation about Disability Insurance.
Instead of drilling your clients with horror stories about the difficulties they will face without having a DI policy in place, ask them the right questions in order to make the DI sale.
Three Questions That Will Start The Income Protection Conversation
Do you have an income protection plan, if you were to get sick or hurt and couldn’t work?
“No,” will be the response you will most likely hear, leading you to question two. However, you will have a percentage of clients that may have an Employer funded group plan – and most employees with Group Long-Term Disability couldn’t tell you what their employer sponsored plan would pay if they went on claim. Simply suggest they send an email to their HR dept for an electronic copy of their benefit book.
Most group plans will pay 60% of their earnings and is fully taxable to maximum benefit. After taxes, that monthly benefit plummets to around 43% of their earnings – a substantial pay cut, and many aren’t able to sustain their standard of living at only 43%. The opportunity is to have them buy a small personal policy to bring their income up to 65 to 70%.
How long would you be able to make your monthly bills if you couldn’t work?
This is where we would use the subtle approach to start painting the picture of what it is going to look like after an illness or accident. Ask your client how long their Savings, Retirement Plan, and Credit cards would carry them. 3 months? 6 Months? 1 year?
And where is the money going to come from after that?
Wait to let them answer. You are still painting the picture. Let your client know that you have an affordable plan that would protect their income if they got sick or hurt. Simply ask if they would like to learn more about it. You will have a percentage of clients who ‘get it’ and will want to learn more, and you will have those that don’t care. And that’s okay – as long as you make the effort to provide them the protection, when they are ready to buy, they will come to you.
These three simple questions will paint the picture for your clients and help identify their need for an Income Protection Plan. Please contact your DI Sales Rep for support with your Income Protection Business.