presenting the case for disability income (di) insurance to your prospects di 1354 4/13

presenting the case for Disability Income (DI) insurance to your prospects

DI 1354 4/13

disclosures• Ameritas® is not authorized to give tax or other legal advice. For specific information applying this

strategy, clients should be encouraged to consult an attorney.

• In approved states, Disability Income insurance (forms 4501NC, 4502GR and 4503BOE) is issued by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. located at 5900 "O" Street, Lincoln, NE 68510. In New York, Disability Income insurance (forms 5501-NC, 5502-GR and 5503-BOE) is issued by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York located at 1350 Broadway, Suite 2201, New York, NY 10018. Policy and riders may vary and may not be available in all states.

• In approved states, DInamic FundamentalSM (form 4504LS) is issued by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. located at 5900 "O" Street, Lincoln, NE 68510. Policy and riders may vary and may not be available in all states.

• This information is provided by Ameritas®, which is a marketing name for subsidiaries of Ameritas Mutual Holding Company, including: Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York, Acacia Life Insurance Company, The Union Central Life Insurance Company, and Ameritas Investment Corp., member FINRA/SIPC. Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. and Acacia Life Insurance Company are not licensed in New York. Each company is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations. For more information about Ameritas®, visit ameritas.com.

• Ameritas® and the bison are registered service marks of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. © 2013 Ameritas Mutual Holding Company

04/21/23 For Producer use only. Not for use with clients.

2

http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=0f66187c0de7b98dbea27c67f44caeb9372db08fe7689db762c11865fa67ce46

For Producer use only. Not for use with clients.

sources of information

• We used multiple sources, plus personal experience in sales to develop this presentation. Some of the books used include:

• The Boxcar Millionaire by Tom Black, Tom Black Center for Selling, Inc., 2007.

• How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger, Simon & Schuster, 1986.

• High Touch Selling by John Savage, CLU, Dearborn Financial Press, 1989.

• The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer, William Morrow & Co., 1994.


purpose of today’s session

• Help you identify how you will approach your prospects after gaining the appointment

• Develop your story so you are effective during the presentation

• How do you position your expertise?

• How do you create word pictures?

• How do you get prospects to act on the findings?


selling fundamentals

• I am going to assume you represent a good company (you do), have a good product (you do) and finally, are competitively priced (you are)

• These three things will determine your success:

• The number of prospects you see

• The quality of your prospects

• The quality of your presentation


reasons you can’t see more people

• I am seeing as many as I can now. I don’t have more time.

• I want to spend more time on my best customers.

• I believe in quality, not quantity.

• I have already seen everyone.

• Everyone who could buy, already has.

• “The world is made up of three types of people; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who ask ‘What happened?’” Which one do you want to be?


goal setting

• “If you don’t know where you are going, how do you know when you get there?”

• Write down your goals

• Set a time frame for achieving them

• Tell someone

• Set “high” and “low” goals

• Review your goals a couple of times throughout the year

• Reforecast them if necessary


you got the appointment…now what?

• 5 P’s - Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

• What you do prior to the appointment is as important (maybe even more important) as the appointment itself

• Preparation - rehearsal

• Review your notes from the appointment call

• What additional information do you need in order to create the plan that addresses your prospects’ needs?

• Determine your compelling story and communicate how your plan will address their compelling needs

• “Every great performer knows that spectacular performance is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”


prior preparation

• Mental preparation is key

• How do you position yourself in your first face-to-face meeting with prospects?

• Are you out for a sale or are you there to help improve their lives?

• Passion shows!

• You sell products to earn a living…but they have to buy what you are selling…

• What are you trying to determine or establish in this meeting?

• Discussion


reviewing your notes

• What information did you gather?

• What information do you still need?

• What points did they respond to during the appointment?

• What key points do you need to reinforce?

• Mental preparation – it’s show time!


the planned presentation

• Planned does not mean it is the same every time

• Planned does not mean it sounds canned, reduces your flexibility, or doesn’t recognize that different situations will arise

• A planned presentation does allow you to:

• Have planned responses

• Gain a heightened efficiency

• Guarantee thoroughness

• Practice makes perfect


keys to successful sales

• Enthusiasm

• Get your body into the sale

• If talking to a group, stand up

• Use gestures, lean forward and give non-verbal feedback as they give you information

• Acting natural comes with practice

• Look them in the eye

• Smile


creating a ‘buying’ atmosphere

• A “buying” atmosphere is an environment where prospects feel comfortable saying both, “yes” and “no,” to your product.

• “Buying” versus “being sold”

• It is not okay for your prospects to put you off; it is okay for them to decide they don’t need or want your product.

• Either way is fine with me

• Discussion


controlling the interview

• An old Italian man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his tomato garden, but it was very hard work because the ground was rock solid. His only son, Vincent, used to help him dig his garden each year, but Vinnie was in prison. The old man wrote his son about his predicament:

• Dear Vinnie; I am feeling pretty badly because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot on my own. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you’d be happy to dig the plot for me. Love, Dad

•


controlling the interview (cont.)

• A few days later, he received a letter from his son:

• Dear Dad; Don’t dig up the garden. That is where I buried the bodies. Love, Vinnie

• At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police stormed the property and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day, the old man received another letter from his son. It read:

• Dear Dad; Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances. Love, Vinnie


anatomy of a sales call

• The set-up

• Take control

• Establish rapport

• Find or create the need

• Create the buying atmosphere

• Product benefits – not features

• Introduction of price

• Trial close(s)

• Close

• Answering objections

• Close or referral


taking control

• The easiest way to take control is to speak first

• Questions are a good way to control the conversation, particularly if they are planned!

• Establish rapport

• Remember it has to be real

• Rapport is the first step in getting the prospect to trust and listen to you


the power of “why?”

• Have you ever been told, “I don’t believe in insurance?”

• How did you respond?

• Insurance is one of the best inventions of all time!

• Why does it have a bad reputation?

• Is it the product or is it the perceived way we market the product?

• Why aren’t we asking insureds about their feelings? Are their feelings based on knowledge or the perceptions of the process of buying insurance?

• Instead of responding to that statement, consider asking them “Why?” They may convince themselves they have been wrong…and that is much more effective than you convincing them they are wrong!


how planned responses help

• “I understand you have group disability benefits through work. One of my functions in our relationship is to review those benefits and determine if there are any gaps that you should be aware of and suggest options for you.”

• “One of my goals is to provide you necessary information so you can make informed decisions, whether or not you buy any products from me.”


how planned responses help (cont.)

• “You will decide if what I am recommending makes sense to you and whether or not you move forward on one, all, or none of my recommendations.”

• “I am only paid if you decide that what I am recommending makes sense to you and you decide to move forward on my recommendation.”

• “It’s very likely that I will find that you have disability exposure, and I will give you options on ways to help mitigate that risk.”



• “What is your corporate structure; C Corp, S Corp, LLC Partnership, or Sole Proprietor?”

• “What is the plan design for your group LTD program? In other words, what is the percent of covered payroll, the group maximum, the definition of earned income, and finally, what is the definition of total disability in the policy?”



• “Do you personally pay the premium, or is the policy paid for by your firm?”

• “Are you aware that the IRS considers any benefits received under a plan paid for by the employer to be taxable?”

• “Are you aware that you or other key executives could pay the premiums, thus making the benefits tax-free upon receipt?”



• “Do you realize that as you or others in your firm exceed the maximum covered benefit under the Group LTD plan, your replacement ratio begins to reduce? This is often referred to as reverse discrimination.

• “Are any of your or other key individuals’ incomes variable? By that I mean that the income is construed as bonus, commission, dividends, or maybe company perks, such as a car allowance, pension contributions, etc. Most likely, these additional sources of annual compensation are not included in the definition of earned income in the Group LTD plan.”



• If your clients indicate they do not have any DI insurance in place, you need to move to a more traditional series of questions. These could include:

• “Have you ever had a situation where you or another key individual on your staff was disabled and you continued his/her salary?

• If so, for how long did you continue to pay that person?


• If the client’s business is structured as a C Corporation, you might ask them a series of questions:

• “Do you have a Disability Salary Continuation Plan in place for your top executives?”

• “If you realize that by having a Disability Salary Continuation Plan in place, you can deduct the cost of a disability plan that is created for you and the other key executives, this also allows you to determine the plan design and eligible participants.”




• “I can provide you sample documents which you can provide to your legal counsel to create your own Disability Salary Continuation Plan. This should save you time and cost. Would you be interested?”

• “Typically, I recommend that the company self-insures for short-term disabilities – let’s say the first two or three months however, after that length of time, I recommend having an insured plan for each of the key executives. Does two or three months sound about right?”


purpose of responses/questions

• What am I trying to establish through the use of these responses and/or questions?

• You control the interview

• Their best interests

• Get them involved in the discussion

• Expertise

• Their responses provide you the right to develop solutions and their answers to the questions will appear later in your solution

• Perhaps to get them to question if they have been receiving the best advice from other advisors


six things you gain by asking questions

• Helps to avoid arguments

• Helps to avoid excessive talking

• Enables you to help your prospects recognize what they want. Then you can help them decide how to get it

• Helps crystallize the others’ thinking. The ideas become their ideas

• Helps you find the most vulnerable point with which to close the sale…the key issue

• Gives the others a feeling of importance. When you show you respect their opinion, they are more likely to respect yours


feature-benefit-question presentation

• Feature• “Our policy provides benefits to you and your family upon a

serious disability.”

• Benefit• “Those benefits (dollars) will help you and your family put

food on the table, remain in your home, and pay your bills.”

• Question• “That is important to you, right?”


specific presentation techniques

• Keep it simple

• Use visuals

• Need to reinforce your points

• Need to be logical

• Attempt to answer the most frequently asked questions about your product and explain the benefits

• Pre-answer the most frequently voiced objections

• Eliminate objections before they can be voiced


specific presentation techniques (cont.)

• Load up on questions

• You control the interview

• Make the presentation interactive

• Questions are designed to lead the prospect to a ‘yes’ answer

• Use simple words – “word pictures”

• Price in terms of benefits

• Trial close – “How does that sound so far?”

• Close – be careful and not oversell


parable

• A Catholic girl was dating a Baptist boy. She really liked the boy, but was afraid their families would never agree to a marriage because of religious differences.

• “Get him to convert to Catholicism,” suggested the girl’s mother. “He’ll never be more interested than he is now.”

• Sure enough, the boy started going to Catholic training. Things seemed to be going along great, and then one night the girl came home crying to her mother.

• “It’s over,” she said. “The wedding’s off.”

• “What happened?” asked the mother. “I thought you sold him.”

• “I did, Mother,” said the girl, “but I oversold him. He wants to be a priest!”


closing

• A close is merely a matter of bringing the prospect to the point of decision.

• Closing is not the time to improvise

• It is too important to ad-lib or “wing it”

• Three types of closes

• Assumptive close

• Alternate choices close

• “You had me at hello” close

• “Let me discuss the next steps should you decide to proceed”


typical objections

• You will have objections

• Practice how you will respond to typical objections

• Take them at face value

• Don’t over-think them

• Use them as a means to determine what education is needed

• Be real and sincere


objection one

• Objection:

• “I own the business and if I become disabled, I can continue to take money out of the business.”

• Your response

• “That is tremendous! I do have one question. Would you feel comfortable taking a 30- or 60-day vacation?”


objection two

• Objection:

• “I don’t think I’m at risk for a disability.”

• Your response:

• “That is a very common response however, everyone is at risk everyday. Depending on your age and gender, odd are 1 in 3 in your 30’s and 1 in 4 when you reach middle age that you will become disabled. Females have higher rates than males, but we all have a significant chance of experiencing a disability that lasts at least 90 days.”


objection three

• Objection:

• “What about Social Security or Worker’s Compensation?”

• Your response:

• “Great point. And everyone is most likely covered by those. However, one needs to understand how each program works. First, few long-term disabilities qualify for either Social Security disability benefits or Worker’s Compensation. Also, you need to understand that Social Security only protects you for very severe disabilities, requires you to be disabled five full months to be eligible and the definition of disability requires the disability to last for the balance of your working career or that you are expected to die within 12 months. Worker’s Compensation is there to provide benefits if you become disabled while at work. However, few disabilities are deemed to be work related. You really need to have your own program and we can develop a program that meets your needs – yet respects your budget.”


closing thoughts

• Work eight hours; sleep eight hours; just make sure they aren’t the same eight hours

• In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

• Number one, don’t sweat the small stuff, and number two, remember, it’s all small stuff

• After everything is said and done, more is said than done

• People don’t buy insurance; they buy people

• How is your listening-to-talk ratio?

• Get what you want by giving them what they want

key contacts

• Your Agency or Brokerage Manager

• Your Ameritas® Sales Development team

• Your GSI Regional Director

• The DI Product Management team

04/21/23 For Producer use only. Not for use with clients.

39

presenting the case for disability income (di) insurance to your prospects di 1354 4/13

Documents

acacia life insurance

ameritas investment

disability income di

new york

presentationfor producer

good company

approved states

o street