At the onset of Covid, many industries were faced with a tough question; were they essential? I think I, like many insurance advisors, believed that answer to be yes, but wondered if the public would see it the same. What’s more essential than providing family support during a devastating loss, ensuring that there would always be a roof over heads and a place to call home and that a grieving parent could focus on caring for their kids instead of how bills were going to be met? If you think life insurance agents are selling you a policy, you’re wrong. They are selling you something that you can’t get in a store. They are selling you peace of mind.
So, how has Covid changed our essential business? I sat down with a group of other independent agents to talk about our successes, failures and our ups and downs of 2020.
Funnily enough, one area that was both positive and negative was videotelephony. Many advisors had to overcome technological difficulties and embrace platforms that they had never used before, such as zoom, in order to communicate effectively with existing or potential clients. Some people found this to be very limiting, since communication cues, such as body language, can be tough to interpret in a virtual setting. Others found the convenience and efficiency of being able to reach out to clients whenever and wherever to be an excellent tool and a time saver for both parties.
A big challenge to overcome was networking and prospecting. Where most advisors used an organic method of meeting people in their day-to-day travels, they now had to learn how to find new clients on-line. In an industry that has been slow to accept technology and social media, this was, and continues to be, a huge obstacle.
Most salespeople by nature are social creatures. This, too, presented challenges as they learned to operate in a disconnected and isolated environment. One outlet for many were community forums that began to pop up on the internet. An on-line support system, so to speak, where people from similar industries could share their experiences and together, work on ways around existing challenges.
But through the whole pandemic one thing was abundantly clear; the client was always a priority. One advisor shared that over the past 9 months he had delivered 2 critical illness payouts of $100,000 each. In a time where many people are out of work or suffering financially, he was there to provide support to a vulnerable family and he reminded us of why our industry is deemed essential.
One of the most important lessons of 2020 was to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst and, in essence, this is what we as life insurance advisors, do every day.
Shannon Burnham
Independent Life Insurance Advisor
