How to Save the Sale: One Spouse Approved, One Declined
There's a great article in the July issue of Health Insurance Underwriter magazine entitled, One Spouse Approved, One Declined—What Can I Do to Save the Case? Because, as author Phillip Sullivan points out, when one spouse is declined for health, life or LTC coverage, the approved spouse tends to refuse the coverage altogether. Sullivan refers to this as "cutting-your-nose-off-to-spite-your-face syndrome".
Pre-qualifying the sale is paramount to avoiding CYNOTSYF syndrome says Sullivan. (That's the last time I use that acronym, I swear.) To that end, he recommends making a strong pre-qualifying phone call before heading out on a sales call.
From a time management point of view, I would rather know I have a potential underwriting problem before I arrive than to invest time in an appointment which will not result in a sale.
Thus, in his pre-qualifying call, Sullivan explains that not everyone can get long-term care coverage (for example) because of health reasons. Then he asks the prospects to share any serious illnesses or hospital stays that they've experienced in the past five years, followed by a list of medications the pair currently takes. And this, Sullivan enforces, is where you must know the health issues your carrier will not insure.
Taking into account the prospects' health information and your underwriting guidelines, you'll be able to determine whether one of the spouses is likely to be uninsurable. And Sullivan suggests that you bring up this possibility before you set up the sales appointment.
You'll want to say something like,
"As I said before, Mrs. Prospect, this is a health-qualifying product and because of the health problem(s) you've described with your husband, he may not qualify for the coverage."
And here's where you need to catch the CYNOTSYF syndrome before it even begins. (Okay, so I totally used the acronym again. Apologies.)
"Mrs. Prospect, you're not alone. I've had many clients in the exact same situation—where one spouse was insurable and the other was not—and I was able to find a solution to help both of them. If I could create a solution that would help protect both of you, would you be interested in pursuing that further?"
Sullivan maintains that at this point, it's essential that you keep the prospects focused on finding a solution rather than focusing on the issue. You can do this by stating the problem ("Without coverage, you could find yourself using all of your resources on your husband, leaving minimal protection for yourself.") and providing a solution (A policy that can work with the given circumstances). Discussing potential options with the prospects can make for a very rewarding (and profitable) sales call.
All in all, good thoughts from Sullivan. Start with the pre-qualifying call, identify problem areas from the outset and focus on shifting the prospects' emotions from the anger and embarrassment of being uninsurable, to the positive—finding a solution.
Easy as pie, right? :)
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