Marketing Long-Term Care Insurance To Affinity Groups

Members of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance often submit questions via the organization's members only website. We solicit answers from leading industry experts and post them. I thought it would be valuable to post this one on our blog as well. As sales of long-term care insurance to associations and affinity groups grow, I believe you'll find this of value.

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance reached out to a leading national expert in the field, Joseph Pulitano of Advanced Resource Marketing, in Allston, MA.

The Question: I am agent of record for a large affinity group, and am debating whether to continue to use a mailback pro forma or to partner with an LTC specialty Managing General Agency (MGA). My question is, how many times more apps could I expect to receive by using the face to face process, vs the mailback process?

Joe Pulitano's reply: I don't have enough information on your group to give you a quantitative answer but I can certainly give some conceptual ones. In all of the associations and employer groups we market to we see participation rates much higher when the prospect is approached face to face with an agent.

The reasoning - Members/Employees have purchased life insurance and/or DI in the past and have perhaps purchased more than one policy. They tend to understand those products; the role they play in a person's overall financial plan and most people can adequately purchase them over the phone/mail/internet.

The people who have not purchased LTCi will hopefully only need to buy it once. For that to happen a well trained, competent agent who understands how to work affinity leads can guide a prospect through the role LTCi plays in a person's overall financial plan and help them purchase the right product at the right price.

Perhaps the best example of this is AARP. They have been offering LTCi to their membership for over 20 years strictly through over the phone and through the mail. Last year AARP contracted with a nationwide company of career agents to meet members at their homes and sell the product face to face. The results in most areas of the country have been phenomenal.

Yes, there are those prospects who do not want to sit with an agent and want to conduct business over the phone, internet, or through the mail, and as an MGA marketing to affinities we do accommodate those individuals with an on line education process and purchasing system.

When considering an LTCi MGA to handle your affinity there are several items you need to review:

1. What experience does the MGA have in affinity marketing?

2. Does the MGA have a regional of national base of agents who are experienced in working affinity leads?

3. What investment is the MGA willing to make to market to your affinity? Little or no investment means little or no leads.

4. Does the MGA have the ability to structure commissions to flow directly from the carrier to the affinity and the agent of record?

5. Does the MGA have an on line educational program Members can go to and get more information?

When an MGA is considering taking on this affinity project from you they may want to know:

1. What is the affinity between the association and the members?

2. Are other insurance products sold to affinity members?

3. What are the demographics of the affinity? There are some large affinities that will not be successful.

4. What is the retention rate of affinity members?

5. How long has LTCi been offered and what have the success rates been?

Affinity marketing of LTCi when marketed, sold, and administered correctly is a goldmine of opportunity.

Thanks Joe.

The Ask The Experts service is a benefit of membership in the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. To become a member, click here or type: www.aaltci.org/join into the address bar of your web browser.

Long-Term Care Insurance Producers Summit Planned

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the national professional organization, announced plans for the eighth National Long-Term Care Insurance Producers Summit.

The national conference which will focus on the marketing and selling of long-term care insurance as well as life insurance and annuity products that now offer long-term care benefits will be held November 15 and 16, 2009 at the Westin Crowne Center Hotel in Kansas City, MO.

The Summit is the premier long-term care insurance industry meeting for insurance and financial professionals who market long-term care solutions to individuals and the employer marketplace.

The Association is extending a special Pre-Early Registration offer--a $130 discount off the general registration fee of $325. In addition, for those who register before February 18th, the Association will provide two $25 credits toward room charges at the Westin in Kansas City. For details on this limited-time offer, contact Jesse Slome, Executive Director of the organization. Click here of call (818) 597-3227.

Long-Term Care Insurance Tax Planning Idea For Business Owners

Long-term care insurance is one of the greatly overlooked tax deductions with special advantaged best suited for small business owners. The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance maintains helpful information about deductibility levels and rules on it's website. Click here to read more.

But here is a tip summarized from the just published edition of Long-Term Care Insurance Sales Strategies magazine. The idea was shared by David Hillelsohn of the Haslett Management Group.

The firm worked with an employer who desired offering an employer-paid long-term care insurance plan to employees, but only wanted to selectively provide the coverage to those nearing retirement age.

To accomplish this,, the firm created their own eligible classification for the insurance benefit by creating a point system - giving a point for years of service and a point for the employees age. Any employee with 50 or more points was eligible for the employer paid plan.

The use of Executive Carve Out plans for long-term care insurance remains one of the best ways small businesses can use pre-tax dollars to pay for this important benefit. For more information, contact your long-term care insurance professional or click here for no-obligation information.

Finding Security In Guaranty Associations

Guaranty associations were created by states to product insureds in case of a company insolvency. All insurance companies licensed in a state are required, as a condition of doing business in that state, to be a member of the guaranty association.

The guarantee varies but generally ranges from a minimum of $100,000 to $500,000 in some states (Connecticut, New York and Washington).

Insurers are forbidden to talk about this guarantee (unlike banks that are encouraged to promote the FDIC guarantee).

I plan to interview Peter Gallanis, the national director for the national organization representing each of the state guaranty associations and look forward to posting meaningful information as part of our Ask The LTC Guy Q&A featured on the Association's Consumer Information Center.

I have a list of questions that I plan to ask Mr. Gallanis but if you have suggestions, please E-mail me at mailto:jslome@aaltci.org .

Thanks. Looking forward to sharing some of the findings here as well.

Free Marketing Tool For Agents

Yesterday we announced the 2009 National Long-Term Care Sales Achievement Award which recognizes producers (even those who make minimal sales). If you are not familiar with the award, click on this link.

I'm glad to say some 75 producers entered during the first day. But that's not what prompted this message. Our system tabulates the entries and it also keeps track of lots of meaningful info.

One thing it records is the number of people who use the free E-card we placed on our Members Only Page. We don't see any names ... just a counter of how many people used in the past 30 days.

I was shocked to see the number was 13. It's free! It's private. You can personalize it. Replies go back directly to you the agent who sent this.

And, in fact, we are going to be adding a second E-card that agents can use to target business owners.

The ability to use free E-mail marketing to generate interest is a powerful, most powerful marketing tool. And, if you are not collecting E-mail addresses for every person you come in contact with, you are missing the boat.

More important, you need to be segmenting your E-mail lists so that you can selectively target people. Lists I would consider are: clients, non-buyers (who you met with), women living alone, business owners and self-employed.

For now, go to the Association's website. Click here. Go into the Producer's Resource Center and there you will find the Members Only tab. That's your access to free marketing tools, including the E-card. The first one targets women. Try sending the card to yourself ... and then start using these free E-cards to market. We'll have more cards added ... as more people use them.

Let me know what you think. I'll share more tips on the topic.