Benefits Selling. October 2004. BenefitsSellingMag.com

INDUSTRY INSIDERS >> By Margie Barrie and Carroll S. Stuart

Good Training, Good Participation

Industry Insiders will periodically feature actual case histories from the files of LTCI agents. Our intention is to share real-life situations, both successes and failures that provide practical advice.

Client: Shareholders, associates and all staff in a prestigious national law firm totaling 400 employees, all of whom were eligible to participate in a voluntary Long Term Care enrollment.

Agent: D. Corey Rieck, MBA, CLTC, president, LTCcompass.

Type of Policy: A voluntary individual policy, partially funded by the employer with multi-life discounts and both simplified and modified underwriting.

Enrollment Details: The law firm has 18 locations nationwide. Most employees earn in excess of $50,000. The average employee age was 45, and the majority are college educated.

The reason for success in this case is that all required LTCcompass terms for doing business were agreed to as a joint effort by LTCcompass and the benefits committee prior to submitting the case.

Those conditions were:

1. LTC premiums were partially funded by the employer.
2. The LTC enrollment was executed independently of any other enrollment.
3. There was a 60-day, pre-heat period prior to enrollment. An initial communication included a letter on employer letterhead announcing the new benefit and its merits. The same communication was sent via company interactive e-mail and payroll stuffers.
4. On company time, large group kick-off meetings at each of the 18 U.S. locations followed the educational campaign.
5. Forced choice one-on-one meetings were held at each office location on company time following the large-group kick-off meetings.
6. The employer paid a portion of the LTC premium for participating spouses, allowing underwriting concessions for the spouses.
7. The LTCcompass Web site (www.LTCcompass.com) was utilized to further educate the employees and parents where necessary; A separate password was used for them.
8. The employer fully supported us and backed LTCcompass and it’s enrollment team 100 percent.

Results: Roughly 6 percent of the shareholders, associates and staff attended the large-group kick-off meeting. About 80 percent of the shareholders, associates and staff had one-on-one meetings. About 260 applications were written, and $250,000 of long term care premium was written. There was 6 percent total penetration in the case.

• This case illustrates the importance of selecting a market and streamlining your business to effectively market to that niche.
• This case illustrates the impact of educational tools to systematically educate employees, regardless of their background on this very important subject.
• The case is profitable to both carrier and agent as it was handled professionally with an organized and regimented approach that provides the CEO and HR department clear parameters, enabling their effective co-support.

Margie Barrie, author of the book 50 Ways to Boost Your LTCI Sales, is president of Margie Barrie & Associates, an LTC consulting firm, and a principal of LTC Sales Training Solutions, a company specializing in agent education and training. Margie can be reached at margiebarrie@comcast.net.

Carroll Stuart, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, CLTC, LTCP, has worked as national director of LTCI group markets for Transamerica Life Insurance Company, and vice president of group marketing and sales at a large East Coast LTCI brokerage agency. Currently, Carroll is chairperson for the 5th Annual Intercompany Society of Actuaries Long Term Care conference. She can be reached at carrollcarroll@comcast.net