Peanut butter and jelly. Salt and pepper. Disability insurance and doctors. Some things just go well together. If you’re selling disability insurance, doctors are a fantastic market. In fact, insurance agents have four strong reasons to sell disability insurance to doctors – and only one reason not to.
Four Reasons to Sell DI to Doctors
If you try to picture the ideal candidate for disability insurance, you’ll probably end up picturing a doctor. There are some good reasons for this.
1. Doctors have a strong need for paycheck protection.
Anyone who depends on a paycheck has good motivation for purchasing paycheck protection, but doctors have a stronger need for coverage than most.
First of all, doctors are top earners. According to BLS, physicians and surgeons earned a median annual salary of $208,000 in 2021. Depending on the specialty, doctors might earn a lot more than that. A doctor’s income is a huge asset, and it deserves protection.
Doctors also tend to have debt. Medical school is expensive, and student loan debt is particularly common among doctors. The Education Data Initiative says 73% of medical school graduates have student loans, and the average medical school graduate owes $250,990 in student loan debt. A disability could keep these doctors from paying off their debt, but disability insurance provides protection.
2. Doctors are receptive to coverage.
Although many people could benefit from disability insurance, some people would rather stick their heads in the sand than admit they could become disabled.
Doctors know how an illness or injury can turn a person’s life upside down. The nature of their work brings them face to face with disability every day.
Doctors also tend to be familiar with disability insurance coverage. Because they are a prime market, they have likely seen materials on the importance of having coverage, and they almost certainly have colleagues who have already purchased coverage.
Finally, doctors can afford coverage. Some individuals may recognize that disability insurance coverage would be a smart purchase, but their budgets are tight, and they don’t make paycheck protection a priority. Because doctors are top earners, they generally have enough room in their budget to cover the cost of disability insurance.
3. Multi-life sales can be especially lucrative.
Doctors often work together. Instead of targeting one doctor at a time, you can target groups of doctors and try to get all of them covered at once. This works out well for the doctors because they can qualify for multi-life discounts that make coverage affordable. It also works well for you as an insurance agent because you earn commissions on multiple sales at once.
When you go after multi-life disability insurance sales, don’t forget about other healthcare workers. The nurses, physician assistants and office managers may also need coverage.
4. You can sell business disability insurance while you’re at it.
The 2020 Physician Practice Benchmark Survey from the American Medical Association found that 49.1% of patient care physicians work in physician-owned practices. Many doctors are also business owners, so in addition to individual disability insurance that protects their personal incomes, they also need disability insurance products that protect their business.
When you sell disability insurance, you can also sell business overhead expense insurance, business loan disability insurance and buy-sell disability insurance.
But One Reason Keeps Some Agents Away
Based on the above points, someone might assume that all insurance agents sell disability insurance to doctors. Not quite. While most agents WANT to sell disability insurance to doctors, few of them are actually successful in this niche. It’s a competitive market, and breaking in can be challenging.
Maybe you’ve tried to sell disability insurance to doctors, but another agent always beat you to the close, and you’ve given up. Maybe you’re still trying, but you have had any success yet, and you’re becoming frustrated. Or maybe you’ve avoided the doctor market entirely because you’re intimidated by it.
Don’t give up. Doctors are an extremely lucrative market for disability insurance sales. You just need to learn how to get your foot in the door.
There’s a resource that can help you. The “Little Known Secrets” download includes the how-to guides, doctor handouts, pre-approach letters and policy feature checklist that you need to break into this market. Get your copy now.