Selling no-exam life insurance really helps with cash flow in the first few years of your business. There’s nothing better than taking an application and getting paid the next week.
The reason I’m writing this article is I’ve noticed that many agents have an issue with selling no-exam life insurance because of the price and those that want to sell it, have no idea how to position it.
In order to consistently sell no medical exam life insurance, you have to get over your limiting belief that no-exam life insurance products are inferior because they’re more expensive. Put the cost out of your mind and let your prospect decide what ‘s best for them. Let them make the decision, not you. All you need to do is bring it up as an option.
I’ll explain how to do this below.
Lets first look at who you should offer no-exam life insurance to, EVERY TIME.
Identifying a No-Exam Life Insurance Prospect
These are the typical buyers of no-medical exam life insurance coverage. Always bring no-exam coverage up to these prospects.
1. No current coverage.
Prospects without coverage are rookies when it comes to buying life insurance. A medical exam to someone who has never applied for life insurance can be intimidating. If you position no-exam life insurance correctly using the A/B close (discussed below), many of your prospects will elect for non-med over the cheaper fully underwritten policy.
You won’t get the no-exam life insurance sale every time, but if you don’t mention it, you’ll never get it.
Many agents don’t even bring up no-exam life insurance because of the fear of losing to another agent based on cost. I believe in the opposite – Most agents are losing clients because they aren’t bringing it up.
You’ll be surprised how many people who have never owned life insurance will opt for the more expensive no-exam option. How are these virgin life insurance consumers supposed to know it’s even an option if you don’t bring it up?
Keep in mind, you’ll still provide both a no-exam quote and a fully underwritten quote and let your prospect decide. You just need to make sure you bring up a no-exam option.
2. Anyone who hasn’t seen their physician within the last 2-5 years.
Every time I qualify someone’s health, I ask them when their last doctor’s visit was. If it was over 2 years ago, I immediately know I’m going to offer non-med along with a fully underwritten quote.
I position it by instilling some doubt in taking a medical exam. “If you haven’t had any lab work done in 2 years, there may be some minor issues you don’t know about that can increase your life insurance rates. Even an elevated blood pressure, cholesterol or triglyceride reading can prevent you from securing affordable coverage” – then proceed to the A/B close I go through below.
3. Anyone who has multiple “minor” health issues
In my experience, the person taking multiple medications for any typical health issue (cholesterol, blood pressure etc) usually has some issues in their lab work and doesn’t have as much control over their health issues as they think. They may tell you their health issues are under control, but if it takes more than 1 medication to do it, there’s a higher probability of a rating.
In this situation I would explain to your prospect that a medical exam can potentially disqualify you from coverage if anything is abnormal or elevated, but a no exam policy only uses brief insurance history checks to approve them and they should qualify just fine.
4. If they need the coverage quick.
This is the most obvious. We’re talking SBA loans, divorce settlements or any other court ordered or required life insurance policy. These people need coverage quick and are lay downs when it comes to no-exam life insurance coverage.
How To Sell More Non-Med
Here are a few strategies to sell more no medical exam coverage.
1. Exclusivity. People want to belong to something other people can’t. Express to your prospects that it’s tough to qualify for a non-med policy because they’re pickier about your health, but you think they can qualify.
” Not everyone can qualify for a no-exam life insurance policy, XYZ life insurance is very picky on who they take, but based on the health information you gave me, you may be able to qualify. So when I provide you with this quote, there’s no guarantee I can get this for you – but we can know within 48 hours if you can qualify” – Then go into the A/B close (below).
2. MIB. Sew a seed of doubt. Let them know that if you have a clean MIB record, they can get coverage easily with non-med coverage. However, if they go the other route – it could work out great, BUT if it doesn’t turn out well (your labs come back elevated, they find some history in your medical records), it gets reported to the MIB at which point it would go on your record and can affect future life insurance applications.
3. The A/B Close.
“Mr. Prospect, I’m going to give you 2 options and it’s just a matter a preference.
A: We can send you an application, schedule a medical exam, obtain your medical records and wait 4-8 weeks for a decision on your application.
OR
B: We can apply online, bypass the exam and get coverage within 48 hours.
For option A, a $250,000 policy can be anywhere from $55/mo. to $90/mo. – it all depends on your medical records and lab results”
For option B, the monthly premium would be $75/mo. and we’ll know within 48 hours if you’re approved.”
What we’ve done there is made the slightly higher price (non-med) seem more attractive by eliminating the uncertainty of what the final price will be.
Bottom Line
If your prospect is price sensitive, then go the fully underwritten route. We’re not hard selling no-exam coverage, simply making them know it’s available.
Many agents don’t even bring up no medical exam life insurance options and that’s the issue. By identifying a good non-med prospect and presenting it the right way, you can win some more clients and help with your cash flow.
The icing on the cake with no-exam policies? Re-writing them the next year by asking if they want to take an exam to lower the rates. These policies are great inventory for your business.
2 Comments
Great article Jeff!! I like how the whole process is outlined for easy implementation. I rarely place non med but this makes a lot of sense to place more.
Great article! My sales team is trained to start top down by offering non med, the a select few fully underwritten carriers. We are placing more business, faster, than we ever have. Non Med works great for those under 40…a medical exam is quite intrusive and not something that the younger crowds are comfortable with. I highly agree with your piece at the end about year 2 re-writes…just make it after 13 months!