If you’ve been following the news, you know that long-term care insurance is a hot topic. How could it not be hot when roughly 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65 every single day over the next two decades? Add the escalating costs of care to that figure, and it’s easy to see the need for LTCI is mammoth.
According to one major carrier’s study, it costs roughly $4,000 per month to live in an assisted living facility in 2013. That number is scary, but your LTCI-buying clients won’t need an assisted living facility in 2013. They’ll need it in 20 years. And, in 20 years, that same assisted living facility is projected to cost more than $10,000 per month! When clients hear those figures, they see the money draining out of their retirement funds.
With these arguments in mind, you may feel ready to march out and meet your next LTCI prospect. However, it’s important to remember that if you speak before your clients, you will lose sales!
So, instead of the show up and “throw up” routine, try leading the consultative discussion with open-ended questions. Here are a few that I’ve found to be quite effective:
- Thank you for inviting me to meet with you today. Do you mind if I ask … What prompted you to ask me about long-term care insurance?
- Have you had any personal experiences with long-term care situations – with either your parents, or other relatives or acquaintances?
- What did you learn or take away from those personal experiences or observations?
- In the experience you described, do you know how the family paid for the long-term care costs? Was the cost burdensome for the family?
- How would your family cope if something similar happened to you?
Once you’ve posed the last “how would your family cope” question, it’s absolutely essential that you BE QUIET, LISTEN, and let your prospect talk, reflect and elaborate. Your silence will prompt their conversation. Use silence as a sales tool. In 90 percent of situations, the prospect will say, “I don’t know what we would do – that’s why I’m asking you.”
And with that permission in place, now you can speak. But speak like a teacher – not like a salesperson, succinctly answering these questions:
- What is long-term care insurance?
- What are some examples of long-term care expenses?
- What is the typical cost of long-term care services today? And the projected cost in 20 or 30 years?
Finally, make sure your prospects know that the opportunity to secure long-term care insurance fades with every passing day. That’s because long-term care insurance is purchased with good health – not with money. If you are diagnosed with an illness tomorrow, the window to buy may have already closed.
Did you know that DIS now assists brokers with long-term care insurance in addition to disability insurance? Download our LTCI product options and quote request form here, or request an LTCI quote online at your convenience 24/7.
